A RETIRED judge has said it would be "fundamentally wrong" if changes to the law meant individuals could be convicted on the basis of their confession alone.

The Scottish Government wants to abolish the centuries-old requirement of corroboration in criminal trials, where evidence is needed from two separate sources for a conviction.

Lord Hope of Craighead, Scotland's most senior judge between 1989 and 1996, described the proposal as "quite dangerous".

He told Holyrood magazine: "I just express concern that the proposal seems very far-reaching and, potentially, quite dangerous if you have a situation where somebody is at risk of being convicted on his own confession which I would have thought was absolutely fundamentally wrong in Scots law.

"It may be that the number of cases that go to trial now on confessions are comparatively few, but we developed our law of corroboration initially as a barrier against people being taken to court on a confession which had been extracted by torture.

"This is in the early 18th century when things were very, very different, and people reacted against this, and I'd be very sad to see that kind of protection go."

The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill plans to change the law so two separate sources of evidence are no longer required for someone to be convicted of a crime.

The legislation was put forward after senior judge Lord Carloway carried out a review which recommended the controversial change.

Sir Menzies Campbell

Liberal Democrat MP Sir Menzies Campbell, who practised as an advocate depute for several years in Scotland's High Court, has argued that corroboration is essential to avoid the risk of false accusation.

Lord Hope said: "I know there is a real problem about cases that take place in situations where there is no other witness, apart from the victim and the accused, and that requires very careful thought. But I would have thought a more selective way of dealing with the problem would be wiser than what I understand to be the solution that is being proposed just now."

Lord Hope was previously Lord Justice General of Scotland and Lord President of the Court of Session, and until June was deputy president of the UK Supreme Court.